In Solidarity

With All God’s Children

Ohio Wesleyan University

Spring Break Mission Week Celebration 2008

Celebration 2008 Program

Welcome and Opening Remarks

Team Presentations

Chicago: Homelessness and Hunger

Nicaragua: Sustainable Harvest International

The Benedictine Experience: Women in Community

El Salvador: Love and Hope Orphanage

Habitat for Humanity: Collegiate Challenge

Belize: The Belize Mission Project

Nicaragua: Foundation for the Medical Relief of Children

New Orleans Rebuilding

Appreciation

Closing Remarks

Spring Break Mission Week:

Official Mission, Purpose, and Task

Our Mission

To share the light of God across the campus, the community,

the nation and the world through the work of our hands,

the love of our hearts, and the knowledge of our minds.

Our Purpose

To redeem the week of Spring Break through committed acts of

servant leadership, restorative justice,

and transformative reflection.

Our Task

To use our common and mostly unskilled abilities to help clean up, help remodel,

help rebuild, help teach, and help heal our world.

While our task is important, it is only a vehicle to our

mission and purpose.

Chicago Project

Original Vision Team members will work with multiple agencies that serve the poor while learning about

issues that impact and are impacted by urban poverty in the United States.

Final Reflection During Spring Break, our team was transported into the heart of urban poverty. In Chicago, our team learned from amazing individuals some of whom were homeless

themselves and others who worked passionately to feed, clothe, and care for the impoverished around them. The trip truly impacted our lives and helped ignite a fire of passion in each of our hearts. We walked away from Chicago forever changed with an

understanding of the poverty that is among us."

Team Members

Jessica Black Jaime Fuentes Siobhan Sloane Julie Blaszak ** Elizabeth Griffith Samantha Spiridelis

Josh Curie Christopher Kelley Melissa Tan Rachel Decker Giang Lee Amy Tuttle *

Claire Everhart + Chris Mickens **

* Team Leader

+ Spiritual Guide ** Faculty/Staff Advisor

Nicaragua Sustainable Harvest International

Original Vision

This team will explore sustainable agriculture practices and how they contribute to the economic and environmental well being of local communities as they work with local

families seeking to implement these practices in a remote area of Nicaragua.

Final Reflection The Nicaragua SHI Mission team spent their spring break working on environmentally

sustainable projects in the rural Kukra Hill district on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. The group visited family farms in La Fonseca, helped with the construction of a biogas digester,

and established a nutrition and reforestation project at an extremely impoverished local school. Team members were able to experience a new and hospitable culture and began to see

the world we live in from a new and enlightened perspective.

Team Members

Natalie Cuevas Lucia Herleth

Matthew Jordan William Kenny

Alisha Kissell * Nancy Knopp ** Sara Nienaber +

Forrest Raub Martim Thomaz Paula Travis **

* Team Leader + Spiritual Guide

** Faculty/Staff Advisor

The Benedictine Experience: Women in Community Erie, Pennsylvania

Original Vision

Team members will experience the Benedictine model of faith, community, prayer and social action as they help with a variety of the sisters’ service projects (including a soup kitchen and an inner-city youth art house), learn about the social justice initiatives of the sisters, participate in community and prayer life of the monastery, and converse with sisters on

special topics.

Final Reflection The Benedictine Team had the unique opportunity to spend a week in a monastery,

experiencing the daily routine of the sisters in Erie, Pennsylvania. The trip was both active and reflective. We followed their prayer schedule, as well as participated in a variety of

missions, including an inner city art house, a soup kitchen, migrant worker's daycare, and a transitional house for women. We learned about the sisters' commitment to social justice

and their ongoing faith journeys, all within the context of their community life.

Team Members

Kelly Callahan Cate Daily *

Kate Kriegel +

Shannon McHenry Lucy Schmitt

Katherine Townsend

Jessica Wright Christina Yost

Kelly Adamson **

* Team Leader

+ Spiritual Guide ** Faculty/Staff Advisor

Love and Hope Ministries El Salvador

Original Vision

Team members will seek to develop an appreciation for the economic, social, and political conditions in El Salvador as they serve the most vulnerable - dispossessed children. The team

will serve with Love and Hope Ministries, an evangelical Christian ministry, "sharing, providing, and caring."

Final Reflection

Our trip to El Salvador to work with Love and Hope Children's Home was an amazing experience. We got to help improve the facilities of the home, be there for the children, and

brought donations for the home and surrounding community. We were challenged individually and as a team, and together, we climbed spiritual and physical mountains that

brought us together as a family.

Team Members

Amanda Baker Joshua Brown Erin Gursky

Troy Jeffrey +

Claire Knight Ben Malecki * Molly Mehl

Alfonso Taylor Lauren Wiebe **

Bob Wood **

* Team Leader + Spiritual Guide

** Faculty/Staff Advisor

Habitat for Humanity Collegiate Challenge

Original Vision This team will work with Habitat for Humanity’s Collegiate Challenge program, offering a hand up, not a hand out to families and persons in need of affordable housing. Participants

will engage in construction, painting, and other services as needed by the site. Exact location to be determined in October with some team input.

Final Reflection

We came to help, unknowing what we were capable of. While inexperience proved daunting, we were undeterred from doing what we set out to do. It's amazing to see how much of a life

changing difference you can make, in less than a week.

Team Members

Chad Claussen Dan Freed-Pastor

Helen Gerseny Benjamin Goodrum

Joanna Hartley

Chad Johns ** Taylor McCleneghan

Mark Miller * Mats Nordbo Andrew Riley

Eshara Silva Alexa Von Der Embse

Hasani Wheat Paula White **

* Team Leader

+ Spiritual Guide ** Faculty/Staff Advisor

Belize The Belize Mission Project

Original Vision The purpose of this team is not only to service Christian mission in Belize, but also to study the very nature and purpose of Christian today. While in Belize the team worked with the

Belize Mission Project, which is associated with the United Methodist Volunteers in Mission.

Final Reflection The Belize Mission team spent the year leading up to our trip studying Christian mission

and how we can best put our faith into action in mission work. Our time in Belize was spent painting at Body and Soul Ministries in Roaring Creek, Belize and giving food and donations

to villages outside the capital city of Belmopan. The entire team was inspired by the love and faith displayed by the people in Belize and we hope to carry that with us in our

own lives back home.

Team Members

Katie Ayers Bob Barnes ** Brittany Cross Allison Cozzone

Janna Dagley + Barbra MacLeod **

Sydney Parms

Brendon Ross Matt Yoder *

Ryan Yoder

* Team Leader + Spiritual Guide

** Faculty/Staff Advisor

Nicaragua: Foundation for the

Medical Relief of Children

Original Vision

This team will work with the Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children. Participants may find themselves providing health education, shadowing doctors, and staying with local families. The team will actively engage in learning about healthcare

needs in underserved areas and the multiple issues that give rise to and impact those needs.

Final Reflection "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."

-Aesop, Fables. The "Costaraguan" team cannot express the depth of their gratitude for the kindness received

in the short three days of volunteering in Nicaragua. The mark we had left in Limon, Nicaragua was in many ways small and insignificant, but the impact the community had on us was indelible and life altering. In the future we hope to return again to Limon or another

community in need to share our blessings and the love.

Team Members

Britta Buchenroth Laura Coonfield +

Paola Grullon David Johnson **

Nancy Murray ** Jeffrey Thongsawath

Bryn Trogdon

Emily Turner Anne Worth Steve Yang *

* Team Leader + Spiritual Guide

** Faculty/Staff Advisor

Hurricane Katrina Recovery New Orleans

Original Vision

This team will again work in New Orleans on the recovery efforts. For the first time since Hurricane Katrina hit, this team will be focused not on demolition but on rebuilding!

Building skills or a willingness to learn them are a must!

Final Reflection The ReNew Orleans Mission Team spent their week in sunny New Orleans, Louisiana,

working with the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We worked on a house in St. Bernard's Parish, one of the hardest hit parishes in the suburbs of New Orleans, doing everything from putting up

hallways to nailing in sheathing. When we weren't working, we experienced pieces of the vibrant culture of the most unique city in the US, dining on po'boys, listening to live

jazz and street musicians, and walking through the historic French Quarter.

Team Members

Robyn Case + Michelle Corbett

Lauren Culp Aisha Ford

Heather Grunkemeyer ** Mery Kanashiro *

Max Kraus

Tory Lee Gregory Lewis

Veronica Malencia Joanne Neugebauer Ezugo Onuekwusi

Zeb Pavlisin Morgan Payne

Drew Peterson ** Kimberly Seibert

Asegedech Shimellis Edward Thode

Morgan Waddles Marisa Wintrow

* Team Leader + Spiritual Guide

** Faculty/Staff Advisor

Summer 2008 Teams

Brazil This team will work with Brazil’s street children, helping other Amizade volunteers,

Santarem locals, and some of the at risk youth being helped by Pastoral Menor. Participants may also help with construction or workshops.

Team Members

Francesca Ramsawak* Katie Donnan+ Stefania Mendoza Querra Delmar Flournoy

Katherine MacLam Crystal Contreras Stacey Venzel Stephanie Heiser

Akbar Mahdi** Lucinda Cloud**

Crossroads of the Powerful and Powerless Washington, D.C.

Throughout this program, participants will explore power as it relates to poverty. They will spend time both with the poor and those working on the grassroots level to alleviate poverty

as well as lobbyists and politicians who strive to reduce poverty.

Team Members

Jon Powers** Kim Dolgin** Cate Daily Hannah Davies Kyle Herman

Jessika Keener Chioke Barkari Kaleigh Felisberto Simon Brown Vanisha Bisnath

Renee Colvin Chen Gong Elizabeth Griffith Mark Miller Shan Song

A Special Thank You

To those who worked behind the scenes, giving much of their time and talent Without this special community, this endeavor would be impossible.

Vicki Blommel

Jean Bussell

Lisa Ho

Don Omahan

David Robbins

Marsha Tilden

The Accounting Staff

The Purchasing Staff

Residential Life Staff

The Chaplain’s Office Staff

WCSA

The Lilly Foundation Grant for the Theological Exploration of Vocation

And to Donors like you…

39% of our overall budget was contributed from donors

27% was contributed by the Lilly Foundation Grant

25% was contributed by WCSA

9% was contributed by the President’s Office

Next Year’s Mission Projects

Were you inspired by one of this year’s teams?

Did you participate in a project that you think needs to happen again?

Have you heard rumors of past years’ projects

that you would like to see revived?

Do you have a new idea?

Proposal Workshop

A proposal workshop will be held Thursday, April 17 at noon.

Tips for putting together a successful proposal will be shared!

Proposal forms for next year’s Mission Projects

are now available in the Mission and Vocation Office (Ham-Wil 4th floor)! All

projects must go through this formal proposal process. Any student or staff

member is welcome to submit a proposal. Proposals for previous and new

missions projects are welcome. We look forward to working with you to

make your vision a reality!

Proposal forms are due Monday June 2, 2008.

We are in special need of creative domestic proposals.